Man Stabbed in Diner

Published at 3:14 PM EDT on Aug 23, 2015

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A man was injured when another man he said was a stranger stabbed him in a New Haven diner just after midnight on Saturday morning, police said.

Marvin Maurice Dempsey, 35, of New Haven, is facing multiple charges including assault and narcotics crimes.

When police arrived at Olympia Diner at 604 Ella T. Grasso Boulevard in New Haven to investigate a reported stabbing, firefighters and EMTs were already treating Ernest Clark, 31, of New Haven, for a cut in his left abdomen.

Clark told police a man he didn't know approached him in the diner and "asked him to step into the vestibule," police said. The stranger then pulled a knife on the man and pointed it at his neck. He patted down his pockets and then the two men got in a fight.

The man with the knife ran outside and Clark noticed he'd been stabbed, police said. His injury was not life-threatening.

Soon after that, a New Haven police officer near Thorn and West streets observed a man throw a knife and some illegal drugs on the ground, police said. The office believed he may have been connected to the stabbing at Olympia Diner, so he detained him. The man lied to police that his name was Marvin Jones and later confessed his name was actually Maurice Dempsey.

Dempsey told police that the incident involving Clark wasn't random and that he knew him and attacked him to "settle a score," police said. He also told police Clark hit him over the head with a bottle recently.